'They are rude, lazy and intolerant' complaints against our cops SOAR

LAZY: 15 per cent of people said cops were impolite – with the Met Police gaining the most complaints [GETTY]

Last year almost 35,000 complaints were filed against officers in England and Wales, according to new figures released by the independent police watchdog.

The most common complaint made about cops was "neglect or failure in duty" which made up 30 per cent of all allegations.

Other complainants said officers were rude, with 15 per cent complaining of "incivility, impoliteness and intolerance" and five per cent of people complaining of "unlawful/unnecessary arrest or detention".

The figures, published by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), showed a 52 per cent increase in complaints since 2004 with numbers reaching a record high.

Now officials are calling for a shake-up in the way police complaints are handled.

At the moment, officers deal internally with complaints about minor issues without drafting in the IPCC.

Dame Anne Owers, watchdog chairwoman, said: "We urgently need radical reforms to the system as a whole, to make it more accessible and straightforward, and to strengthen independent oversight."

There was a stark contrast between the number of complaints dismissed by individual forces compared to those upheld on appeal by the IPCC.

Dame Anne said the IPCC upheld 49 per cent of appeals from people whose complaints were not even recorded in the first place, as well as 44 per cent of appeals from those whose complaints had been investigated by the local force.

ARREST: Five per cent of people complained of unnecessary arrest [GETTY]

“We urgently need radical reforms to the system.”

Dame Anne Owers, IPCC chairwoman

"It is clear that forces uphold a much lower proportion of appeals than the IPCC. For example, during this period, forces only upheld 22 per cent of appeals against their own investigations - only half the proportion that the IPCC upholds.

"These are different and less serious cases, but these figures will not inspire public confidence that those appeals were dealt with robustly and fairly," she said

The IPCC said 37,032 cops were the subject of a complaint, with 88 per cent serving officers, 73 per cent men and 88 per cent white.

Alex Duncan from the Police Federation, which represents rank and file officers, said police cuts were to blame for the police’s inability to do their job effectively.

He said: “The biggest rise is due to incivility and neglect of duty and while there is no excuse for this, there are far fewer officers with far more to do and unfortunately overworked and exhausted people are often less tolerant and understanding.”

The Metropolitan Police, the UK's largest force, had the most complaint cases last year with 7,115.

It was followed by Greater Manchester Police with 1,536, West Midlands Police with 1,473, Devon and Cornwall Police with 1,364 and Kent Police with 1, 200 complaints.

The largest percentage increase in complaint cases year-on-year was recorded by Northumbria Police, which went from 401 complaints to 794, a rise of 98%, followed by City of London Police, where complaints rose 90% between 2012 and 2014.